Woodward Road Tour - Wow!

It's funny how these things work out. What started as a "what if" idea for an editorial column became a very cool event that we dubbed the Week on Woodward Road Tour (WoW for short). Think of it as a twist on the existing Power Tour model. Instead of a point-to-point weeklong drive, the WoW was a series of day trips to museums, collections, and other automotive points of interest, all originating in one city, in this case Detroit. The longest drive was a couple of hours; most of the trips were much shorter. At the end of the week we took in all that the Woodward Dream Cruise has to offer.

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We wanted WoW to be a way for folks to use their muscle cars, make friends, and have fun without the logistic and mechanical stresses of a 1,000-mile road trip. The key to making WoW happen was our association with Jerry Dixey. He organizes nationwide Road Tours for Street Rodder magazine and has for years, so he was able to bring his prodigious event-planning skills to our little idea—along with some generous sponsorship from Ford—and make WoW a reality.

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More than 70 cars participated in WoW, the biggest Road Tour Jerry has put on to date. Admittedly, many of those were street rods, but the muscle cars that came out were a hearty bunch, and their owners enjoyed the camaraderie that comes with sharing these experiences with fellow gearheads.

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If you like what you see here and wish you could have joined us, it looks like we'll do it again next year. August 17, 2013, is the date of the official Woodward Dream Cruise, and we'll most likely schedule our day trips during the week leading up to the big day. If you're interested in joining us or have some ideas of things we should see or do in the Detroit area, drop us a line.

Here's a sample of some of WoW's highlights. Next month: the Dream Cruise.

The Museums

During the first half of WoW we were headquartered in Dearborn, almost literally a stone's throw away from Ford's world headquarters. That meant we had ready access to not only the outstanding Henry Ford Museum but also the historic Piquette Plant, birthplace of the Model T, and Edsel Ford's magnificent estate. Midweek we drove out to the Gilmore Car Museum in rural Hickory Corners, then followed that up by visiting the Walter P. Chrysler Museum at Chrysler's headquarters in Auburn Hills.

5/32This original Hemi crate motor—still in its original crate—was part of a display of Mopar performance products. It was on loan from Funny Car driver Tom Tignanelli.

Behind the Scenes

Hot rodding may have started in postwar Southern California, but Detroit is a hotbed of high performance. We were fortunate to be treated to tours behind the scenes at several companies whose primary intent is to make cars go faster, whether on the street or racetrack.

The Collections

In addition to museums, WoW participants were let into some privately owned collections as well, thanks to the generosity of Ken Lingenfelter and the people at Roush Performance. We were amazed at what was tucked away in these garages.

15/32The Mustang Memories All-Ford Car Show is held adjacent to Ford’s world headquarters building in Dearborn. John Grafelman displayed the Shinoda prototype Boss 302 at the show, still in its as-stored condition (“Long-Lost Boss,” June ’11). He plans to restore the car in time for the Mustang’s 50th anniversary. “Larry would have wanted it that way,” he told us.

The Events

Woodward was the biggie, but we also attended several other special events during the week before the cruise. Detroit goes a little car crazy in mid-August. Then again, Detroit is the kind of town where you can go to a cruise or local show pretty much every night of the week during the spring and summer months.

16/32Just 22 miles off Woodward, the city of Flint holds its Back to the Bricks celebration during the week before the Dream Cruise. City officials estimate that some half-million people and 40,000 cars turn out for all the activities, which include two nights of cruising and a two-day car show. In fact, during Friday’s show 15 city blocks in Flint are closed to anything other than collector cars. The event gets its name from the long stretch of paving bricks along the cruise route, which are about 110 years old.

Road Tourians

20/32Butch and Kathy Eckhoff of Layton, Utah, are experienced hands at long-distance cruising in their ’66 Mustang. On this trip alone, they drove through Branson, Missouri; Memphis; Nashville; Louisville, Kentucky (for the Street Rod Nationals); and Cleveland to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame before joining the WoW tour. After the tour was over they were headed for Deadwood, South Dakota, for Cool Deadwood Nights. “This car is not babied by any means,” Butch says of the 289-powered ponycar. “I’ve put 1,805 miles on it this summer and I’m not done yet.”

24/32Jay and Nancy Shoat worked tirelessly to keep their ’69 Chevelle convertible in immaculate condition throughout WoW, so much so that Jerry Dixey gave them a special award for their efforts. Jay bought the car for Nancy two years ago. “I bought it basically like this,” he tells us. “I built two cars and didn’t want to build another.” It has a 396 underhood bored to 410 inches, “and it has a huge radiator and two transmission coolers,” Jay says, because the previous owner “loved parades.”

31/32Ed Muth of Courtland, Ontario, earned our hard luck award (if we had such a thing) even before he joined the WoW tour. A late-model Challenger backed into the passenger door of his ’67 Galaxie convertible, crumpling what had been pristine sheetmetal. Ed has owned it for two years and bought it to drive. He’s upgraded the brakes to discs, “but I used a Kelsey Hayes kit so it looks original.”

Special Thanks

WoW wouldn't have been possible without the hard work and logistical planning that Jerry Dixey and his wife, Mary Ann, put into our week of events. They made all the arrangements, prebooked hotel room blocks, and produced a detailed packet of information for every WoW member with itineraries, maps, and even lists of restaurants near some of our events. Oh, and did we mention Jerry ramrodded the build of the '40 Ford they're standing next to, and then drove that car on every one of the Street Rodder Road Tours? We're looking forward to getting back on the road with Jerry and Mary Ann next year.